Will Vandom
Wilhelmina "Will" Vandom is a fictional character who first appeared in W.I.T.C.H. #1 in April 2001. She is the leader of the Guardians (known as W.I.T.C.H.), a group of teenage girls who guard Kandrakar, the center of the universe. In the English language adaptation of the series, the full name of the character has been shortened "Wilma", and in the animated series based on the comic her voice is provided by Kelly Stables and Hōko Kuwashima in Japanese. Will is a bit of a tomboy, but is also sensitive towards other people's feelings. She is a whiz at science and absolutely loves to swim, especially when Guardianship and school are stressing her out. Will also mentioned once that she likes to ride her bike. She loves animals in general, but she is especially crazy about frogs and tries to collect anything and everything frog related except for the actual amphibian itself. She also comes up with extremely good ideas in the face of danger, as shown when she allows Cedric to capture her and her friends to bring them to Taranee, and when she tricks Cedric into wearing the Crown of Light to defeat him. According to her crush's (Matt) grandfather, she seems like a smart girl. She is also to be allergic to nettles. As a regular girl, she is good-looking, but is plagued by insecurity because she doesn't feel pretty enough. When transformed, she looks more like she'd like to look as an ordinary girl. Chronology Before W.I.T.C.H. Comics: Before she was a Guardian, Will was a normal girl who was born on January 19, thus bearing the Capricorn sign, and raised in the small town of Fadden Hills. When she was still young, her father left her and her mother. When she reached junior high school, she found out that she was able to read people's minds. The more she read her friend's minds, the more she realized the fact that they didn't enjoy her company. Will returned home crushed by this rejection. Her mother suggested that perhaps Fadden Hills held too many painful memories of the past for both of them and it was time to find a new life in a new city. At that moment, an announcement on the radio advertised the sunny town of Heatherfield. Her mother decided that Heatherfield would probably be the best place for them to move to. Animated Series: Likewise, before she was made a Guardian, Will was a normal girl with divorced parents who lived in Fadden Hills with her mother. Unlike in the comic, however, her mother's job moved them to Heatherfield. Her birthday in the animated series is somewhere in the fall. Little else is known about Will's life before W.I.T.C.H. Forming W.I.T.C.H. Comics: Trains on her first day at her new school in Heatherfield, Will bumped into Taranee Cook, a girl who had also just moved to Heatherfield. The two of them became fast, and later, best friends, and it was not long before Taranee and Will become friends with Irma Lair, Cornelia Hale, Hay Lin and Elyon Brown. Taranee is now Will's best friend in the series. As luck would have it, that night was the school's Halloween dance and the girls urged Will and Taranee to come with them. They agreed, Will a bit reluctantly. That night at the dance, a prank by Uriah, a schoolyard bully, and his gang involving firecrackers put the girls in harm's way, but with Taranee's quick thinking (and a brief use of her powers) they managed to escape without a scratch. The next day, the girls gathered at Hay Lin's house to recall the strange dreams each of them had. It was there that Yan Lin, Hay Lin's grandmother, told them the legend of the Guardians of Kandrakar, the group of warriors that the girls were supposed to become, and entrusted Will with the Heart of Kandrakar. The girls were naturally in disbelief of these so-called powers and decided to go on with their lives. It wasn't until later that night when two shadowy figures ambushed Will, Irma and Hay Lin that their powers reached their peak and they were able to transform into their Guardian forms to fight them off. From that moment on, the group known as W.I.T.C.H. was born and their task at protecting and keeping order in the universe began. Animated Series: Just a few days after Will's first day at school, Yan Lin (Hay Lin's grandmother) felt the Heart of Kandrakar, which she kept locked up in a box inside her closet, struggle to be set free. Following orders from the Oracle, Yan Lin used her weak mind-influencing powers to make Hay Lin invite her three best friends Taranee, Cornelia and Irma and the new girl Will for tea and cookies after school. While eating, Yan Lin explains about the Veil, Meridian, the Heart and the elemental powers each girl was given, although nothing is mentioned about Kandrakar. She then entrusts the Heart to Will. The other girls' new found connection to Will draws them close and makes them fast friends with her. Profile Will is 14-15 years old, has red hair in a bobcut and brown eyes. She has a crush on Matt Olsen, who later becomes her boyfriend. Will has a pet dormouse, who has various names and appearances depending on the country. Will loves caring for animals, and also enjoys swimming. She is very good at swimming, and is even on Sheffield Institute's competitive team. Because of her love of animals, Will is good at science, specifically biology. Will's full name shifts between Wilhemina and Wilma. Her birthday is given as January 19th in the comics but is changed to the fall (possibly somewhere in November) in the animated series. In the comics, her star sign in Capricorn. Will collects frog items, and loves frogs. Will is known to have a fiery and unstable temper but has the personality of a great leader. She is a bit of a tomboy, but is also sensitive towards other people's feelings and also her own. Will has issues with trusting people because she is scared of being let down. At first she didn't trust the other girls either, as her other friends talked negatively about her behind her back, but she came to understand that they were really her friends. Will is the leader of the Guardians and holds the Heart of Kandrakar or Candracar, a mystical jewel that converts the five elements into mystical energy, allowing the girls to transform and magnify their powers. She has the power of Quintessence and Absolute Energy. Her theme color is pink and her symbol is a pink equal sign. Powers Will is the keeper of the talisman known as the Heart of Kandrakar and she possesses the power of Quintessence and Absolute Energy. Comic books In the comic book, Will could wield the power of Absolute Energy ever since she became a Guardian. This power manifested itself in energy blasts, which Will later learned to use as a shield. In addition, her powers allowed her to talk to objects and electrical appliances and give them a name. That's how she discovered all of them have a personality of their own. Will also possesses other powers such as glamouring, teleporting, sensing magical phenomena and empathy towards animals. Will also is the first one to learn how to make herself invisible and has special powers due to her status as Keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar. For instance, she can contact the Heart's past Keepers and transform the girls between their Guardian and human forms. During the time of the Veil, Will could open portals. When she is in a desperate situation, Will can sometimes allow the Heart to improvise and help her out. Will's empathy towards animals works this way: Animals are empathic to Will, and react to her mood, for example, when Will is happy, the animals around her are happy. Animals can also read Will's mind, as seen in one issue. With the Heart of Kandrakar, Will can also create Astral Drops that are exact copies of the girls. Animated series As the fifth Guardian, Will controls the power of Quintessence, the fifth element. Quintessence manifests itself as whitish blue lightning that she can use to fire offensive blasts and project defensive shields out of the quintessential energy. By using her power of Quintessence, Will can make inanimate objects come alive and act on their own accord but under her control by imbuing them with the same energy. Will is still inexperienced in the controlling inanimate objects aspect of her powers. Will's secondary power is a utilization of her power of quintessence and bringing technology to life so she can talk to them and they can talk back but with distinct personalities. As the Keeper of the Heart of Candracar (also spelled Kandrakar) , the physical embodiment of Candracar AKA the Heart of Infinity's power, Will has the power to channel the magic of the Aurameres into the Heart and therefore enter the Guardians amplifying their powers and transforming them into their Guardian form with colorful blue and violet costumes, different hairstyles, and pixie-like wings which they can all use to fly. Will can use the power of the Heart to close and, further down the line, open holes in the Veil, release a blinding pink light from the Heart, project a force field of pink energy, create numerous fake copies that would disappear in a flash of light, reveal the true form of another, locate other Guardians using their Aurameres and show images of places and people. The Heart of Candracar, has a tele-empathic connection with Will able to instinctively respond and act on its own will when the Guardians are in danger and can absorb, activate, and merge with other magical items. When the Veil was taken down, Will soon learned how to open folds in space and time to traverse different dimensions. Will has displayed the power of superhuman strength and toughness on several scales able to use a tree like a baseball bat and catch a falling catapult like it was a football and a sensitivity to magic and supernatural writing and phenomena. She has empathic abilities with animals as they seem to reflect her mood and has an natural affinity for tele-transportation, being the first to wield this universal Guardian ability. Will has shown she is able to: - Wield Absolute Energy (With The Heart) - Projects a force-field of pink energy - Release blinding light from the heart - Channel the magic of the Aurameres into the Heart and enter the Guardians - Create lightning bolts (Quintessence) - Bring electrical appliances to life through Quintessence - Open and close holes in the veil - Open folds in time and space - Track down the other guardians via the aurameres - Superhuman Strength - Create Astral Drops - Patch into radio signals - Reveal the true form of another - Create powerless copies of the heart Will's powers as her status as a Guardian/Leader: - Unite the Guardians - Flight - Glamouring - Teleportation - Open folds in time and space - Close portals in the veil Differences in the Comic book and the TV series In the animated series Will became fast friends with the other girls of the W.I.T.C.H. team, and she is also very strong minded and relaxed. In the Comic books however she is very insecure, only becoming quick friends with Taranee at first. While she is also brave like in the TV series she sometimes feels that she is a "failure". Will is very sensitive and becomes easily hurt. Will is also very insecure about her friendship with the other girls (this could be because of her history with her former friends who back-stabbed her and talked about her behind her back) she often feels guilty of letting them down. It was also shown by a "fake future dream" that Will's biggest fear is being dumped by Matt and her friends ignoring her. This was not the real future but a fake one made by Phobos to break Will mentally, however he fails as Will has shown not to give up, and was very relieved when the Oracle told her it was a nightmare made by Phobos. Vandom, Will